Six years on, Bengal police arrest Abhishek Banerjee aide in 2020 Nadda convoy attack

Kolkata: The West Bengal Police arrested a youth Trinamool Congress leader in connection with the attack on the convoy of then Bharatiya Janata Party national president J.P. Nadda in South 24 Parganas district on December 10, 2020, the police said on Thursday.

The arrested man, identified as Imran Hasan, was the Youth Trinamool Congress president of the Magrahat (Paschim) Assembly constituency. He is said to be a close aide of the Trinamool Congress (Mamata Banerjee faction) general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee.

Hasan was arrested by personnel of Usti police station, under the Diamond Harbour Police District, from the Deula area on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday, a district police official said.

He will be produced before a district court later on Thursday. The prosecution is expected to seek his police custody for further interrogation.

Apart from the attack on Nadda’s convoy, Hasan is facing allegations of threatening voters ahead of the 2021 and 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, torturing BJP leaders and workers in Magrahat (Paschim), and vandalising the houses of leaders and workers associated with the BJP, the official said.

Hasan is the seventh person arrested in connection with the attack, which took place nearly six years ago. The police had earlier arrested six people: Tausif Ahmed Mollah alias Bachchu, Arif Hossain, Anisur Rahman, Sanjeev Mondal, Ripon Sheikh and Jahangir Khan.

Investigators are examining whether more people were involved in the incident, the district police official said.

Nadda, who was then the BJP’s national president, had visited Diamond Harbour in December 2020 as part of the party’s campaign ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections. The then West Bengal BJP president, Dilip Ghosh, was travelling in the same vehicle as Nadda.

The convoy came under attack twice while proceeding towards Diamond Harbour, first near Sarisha and then at Falta. The BJP had alleged that Trinamool Congress activists were behind the attacks.

BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya, whose vehicle was part of the convoy, was injured in the incident.

The attack had triggered a political confrontation between the BJP and the ruling Trinamool Congress. The BJP had accused the state government of failing to ensure security for its leaders, while the Trinamool Congress had rejected the allegations.

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